Use of electric trailers in heavy duty transport logistics
Weerasinghe, Dinuka Praveen (2025)
Diplomityö
2025
School of Energy Systems, Sähkötekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025061770733
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025061770733
Tiivistelmä
This thesis investigates the potential of electric axle-assisted trailers (E-trailers) to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in Finnish long-haul freight operations. The study focuses on a 1,444 km round-trip route between Kuusamo and Kotka, comparing the performance of a conventional diesel-powered Scania R540 6×4 truck with E-trailer-supported variants (battery capacities ranging from 20–50 kWh) and a fully battery-electric Scania 6×4 truck (BEV) equipped with a 728 kWh energy storage system.
The analysis employs secondary data sourced from validated engineering literature and transport simulation models. Key performance indicators include fuel consumption (L/100 km), electric energy consumption (kWh/km), and lifecycle CO₂ emissions. Results show that E-trailer configurations achieve up to 8.9% fuel savings and proportional CO₂ reductions compared to the diesel baseline. While the BEV eliminates tailpipe emissions entirely, it requires significantly higher energy input (2.99 kWh/km under a 76-tonne payload) compared to lighter-duty BEVs (1.78 kWh/km under 40-tonnes), limiting its range and operational viability in current infrastructure contexts.
These results emphasize the viability of electrified trailers as transitional solutions for decarbonizing long-haul freight in the Nordic region, particularly where infrastructure for full electric trucks remains under development. The study underscores the importance of using aggregated simulation data for evidence-based comparisons of advanced powertrain systems.
The analysis employs secondary data sourced from validated engineering literature and transport simulation models. Key performance indicators include fuel consumption (L/100 km), electric energy consumption (kWh/km), and lifecycle CO₂ emissions. Results show that E-trailer configurations achieve up to 8.9% fuel savings and proportional CO₂ reductions compared to the diesel baseline. While the BEV eliminates tailpipe emissions entirely, it requires significantly higher energy input (2.99 kWh/km under a 76-tonne payload) compared to lighter-duty BEVs (1.78 kWh/km under 40-tonnes), limiting its range and operational viability in current infrastructure contexts.
These results emphasize the viability of electrified trailers as transitional solutions for decarbonizing long-haul freight in the Nordic region, particularly where infrastructure for full electric trucks remains under development. The study underscores the importance of using aggregated simulation data for evidence-based comparisons of advanced powertrain systems.